Dear Editor,
Today, I write to you on a situation that has plagued society for some time now, and something has to be done quickly to arrest it or else it will become a public health risk. The first thing that greets you while travelling from our international airport at Timehri is the putrid smell of a hog-pen. The smell is so sickening that you lack words to describe it. I am at a loss as to why this state of affairs was ever allowed to happen. The question is where is the public health officer? Isn’t there a public health inspector for that area? If there is, how come this situation got to this stage? Why did he/she allow this situation to happen in the first place. You get within the vicinity of Soesdyke and this horrible smell hits you like a ton of bricks. It is a violent assault on your nostrils the minute you negotiate this area. And the worst part of it is that this pigstye is located not too far from the Soesdyke Police Station. I am absolutely sure that reports have been made to them and nothing came out of it.
I am from an agricultural community and someone who studied agriculture at the Guyana School of Agriculture, so I know full well what I am talking about. For someone to engage in livestock rearing, such as pigs, you must first have a concreted floor for the collection of excrement; pigs cannot be reared on a bare clay surface. If this is the case, which I am of the firm opinion it is, then the livestock rearer is lazy. I am also talking about a person who it appears does not clean his pens, something that has to be done every day.
I have forwarded this letter to the Ministry of Health as well as to the Minister of Home Affairs for quick action.
Yours faithfully,
Neil Adams
